Product evidence / not a review

Help Scout

Help Scout offers a support inbox with a Shopify order sidebar and a built-in AI agent, Scout, within its Envoy automation tools. [1][14]

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Document-based record. Not independently product-tested.

Source excerpts below support vendor claims. They do not prove performance, compliance or suitability for your store.

SHOPIFY: The Shopify app imports contact and order details and lets human agents refund, cancel, edit or duplicate recent orders in the sidebar; this does not establish autonomous Shopify actions by Scout, and the agent marketing page labels app connections coming soon. [1][15]
CHANNELS / DOCUMENTED SAMPLE: Beacon chat, email (setup documented; marketing coming soon; confirm account availability) [2][5][16]
AUTOMATION SCOPE: Scout uses knowledge sources to answer questions; current setup documentation covers Beacon chat and email, while the marketing page still labels email coming soon, so email availability needs account-level confirmation. The helpdesk platform lists broader channels, but Scout on SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger remains unverified; those platform channels are not included as AI surfaces. [2][5][16][6]
HUMAN CONTROL: Teams can define knowledge and behavior boundaries, escalate excluded topics immediately, set email targeting conditions, and cap monthly AI resolution spending. [3][4][5][11]
FINNISH EVIDENCE: Scout is advertised as handling over 50 languages, but the retrieved primary text does not name Finnish; this is not evidence of Finnish fluency and no Finnish test was run. [14]
PERFORMANCE: No hands-on product test has been run.

Pricing structure

Envoy is a $0.75-per-resolution add-on; the pricing toggle shows Standard at $30/user/month monthly or $25/user/month annually. Neither seat price nor the outcome price is the complete bill. [7][8][9][10][13][12][14][16][5]

baseMonthly is null because seat count, plan eligibility, and complete recurring base for the intended deployment were not established; minimumUnits and includedUnits are not inferred as zero.
The public rate is $0.75 per qualifying resolution, not per message or every conversation; escalation/further-help rules determine billing.
There is a three-month AI trial and prepaid discounts, but neither is assumed in normalized pricing.
Naming and availability are in transition: Envoy contains Scout; older pages still say AI Answers, and marketing email availability conflicts with the setup guide.

This is not a quote or complete bill. Confirm current terms, required plans and minimums with the vendor. The custom cost lab does not use these records as automatic presets.

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Primary-source evidence

[1] Connect Shopify With Help Scout to View and Work With Orders in the Sidebar - Help Scout Support
https://docs.helpscout.com/article/294-shopify
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:48:09.227735Z
Install the Shopify app for Help Scout and you'll be able to import customer contact information (email address and physical address), view key metrics (lifetime value, annual value and average order value), view full order details (including products and discounts) and refund, cancel, edit, or duplicate your customer's most recent orders right in the customer sidebar.
[2] Introducing Scout - Help Scout Support
https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1796-introducing-scout
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:25.548350Z
Scout is Help Scout's AI agent designed to resolve customer conversations across Beacon and email while keeping your team in control of the customer experience. Evolving from AI Answers, Scout unites AI resolution into a single agent capable of using the right knowledge and instructions for each specific conversation.
[3] Introducing Scout - Help Scout Support
https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1796-introducing-scout
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:25.548350Z
Scout allows teams to define specific boundaries for AI interactions. Your team maintains full control over what Scout knows, how it communicates, and which types of conversations it handles. When Scout has reliable information to answer a customer inquiry, it resolves the conversation autonomously. When a conversation involves sensitive topics, complex account issues, or requests requiring human judgment, Scout hands the conversation off to your… [excerpt]
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Scout allows teams to define specific boundaries for AI interactions. Your team maintains full control over what Scout knows, how it communicates, and which types of conversations it handles. When Scout has reliable information to answer a customer inquiry, it resolves the conversation autonomously. When a conversation involves sensitive topics, complex account issues, or requests requiring human judgment, Scout hands the conversation off to your team. To learn more about setting boundaries and preparing your knowledge base, see Scout Best Practices.
[4] Set Up Scout - Help Scout Support
https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1795-set-up-scout
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:57.438330Z
Click Exclusions under Behavior to specify topics that Scout should escalate immediately to your team. Enter an exclusion name and describe the escalation scenario, then click Add. Use exclusions to set clear boundaries and have the agent escalate the conversation to your team right away.
[5] Set Up Scout - Help Scout Support
https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1795-set-up-scout
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:57.438330Z
Enable Scout in Inbox for Email Set up Scout Navigate to Scout > Manage. You start on the Sources page where you'll tell Scout how to find the right answers. Click Add Source, then choose your source type. For more help with managing Sources, see Manage Scout Sources. Click Exclusions under Behavior to specify topics that Scout should escalate immediately to your team. Enter an exclusion name and describe the escalation scenario, then click Add.… [excerpt]
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Enable Scout in Inbox for Email Set up Scout Navigate to Scout > Manage. You start on the Sources page where you'll tell Scout how to find the right answers. Click Add Source, then choose your source type. For more help with managing Sources, see Manage Scout Sources. Click Exclusions under Behavior to specify topics that Scout should escalate immediately to your team. Enter an exclusion name and describe the escalation scenario, then click Add. Use exclusions to set clear boundaries and have the agent escalate the conversation to your team right away. For more help managing Exclusions, check out Manage Scout Exclusions. Click Roles under Behavior, then click Create role to define your agent's tone and boundaries. Enter a role name, add behavior guidelines in the Character field, and click Create. Add your brand's voice and tone, give Scout explicit instructions on how to — or how not to — reply in general, and tailor it for your audience. Create new roles if you have multiple ways you'd like to use Scout. Click Settings under Behavior to set your company information, and to adjust reply length, tone, and emoji preferences under Style, then click Save. To see Scout in action before you put it live for customers, head to Scout > Test. Test your configuration in the chat interface or choose email conversations to test. Ask questions covered by your documentation to confirm that Scout provides accurate answers with links to your sources. Test the exclusions to make sure it's catching all the cases you want it to. Now that you've got Scout ready to help your customers, let's get it activated in chat and email! See Enable Scout in Beacon for Chat to add Scout to any installed Beacon so that it can chat with your customers. Check out Enable Scout in Inbox for Email if you want to set up Scout to reply to your emails. Enable Scout in Beacon for Chat If you've not created any Beacons yet, head to Tools > Beacons > New Beacon to create one. Check out Create a New Beacon if you need any help through these steps. Choose Scout in the left navigation after you've created your Beacon. If you're already using Beacon, you can add Scout to any active Beacon by heading to Tools > Beacons > [Choose Your Beacon] > Scout. Switch the Enable toggle to active, and click Save. Scroll down to the Customize messages section on this page to change Scout's default greetings, how it replies when it encounters an exclusion or when someone asks for a human, along with the other default messaging it will use. Enable Scout in Inbox for Email Choose Settings (the gear icon) from the top navigation then choose Inboxes in the left navigation. Choose the Inbox where you want to enable Scout, and click Scout from the left navigation. Switch the Enable toggle to active. Set Conditions for Scout via Email You can set additional conditions to decide whether Scout should reply or if the email should land with your team instead. All customers Once you enable Scout, it replies to all new conversations. All customers, except ones matching these conditions Set conditions where Scout should not reply automatically. Only customers matching these conditions Set the conditions where you want Scout to reply, but only to the conversations that match these conditions.
[6] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support SoftwareFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:48:09.227513Z
Live chat and SMS WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger
[7] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support Software
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:52:30.747197Z
Standard $30 per user/mo
[8] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support Software
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:52:31.829132Z
Standard $25 per user/mo
[9] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support SoftwareFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:48:09.227513Z
Envoy Add-on $0.75/resolution Scale capacity with an AI assistant that instantly resolves customer requests. Pay per resolution on a monthly basis.
[10] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support SoftwareFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:48:09.227513Z
A resolution is a single conversation that is resolved by AI Answers without human assistance. A resolution is counted only if the customer receives an AI response and doesn’t use escalation, search the knowledge base, ask more questions, or indicate that they need more help. If a customer requests more help with natural language or by selecting the “I still need help” button, the conversation won’t count as a resolution and you won’t be charged.… [excerpt]
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A resolution is a single conversation that is resolved by AI Answers without human assistance. A resolution is counted only if the customer receives an AI response and doesn’t use escalation, search the knowledge base, ask more questions, or indicate that they need more help. If a customer requests more help with natural language or by selecting the “I still need help” button, the conversation won’t count as a resolution and you won’t be charged. You'll only be charged for one resolution per conversation, even if AI Answers responds to multiple questions.
[11] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support SoftwareFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:48:09.227513Z
Yes — you can set a monthly cap on AI Answers resolutions. If you hit your spending cap, AI Answers will be disabled automatically for the remainder of the monthly cycle.
[12] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support SoftwareFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:48:09.227513Z
3-month free trial Try Envoy at no cost so you can see its impact on response time. Pre-paid discounts available.
[13] Payments and Invoices - Help Scout Support
https://docs.helpscout.com/article/106-payments-and-invoices
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:54:39.986159Z
Note: All amounts shown are in U.S. Dollars (USD).
[14] Envoy — AI Customer Support in Help ScoutFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/agent/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:57.438968Z
What’s the difference between Envoy and Scout? Envoy is Help Scout’s suite of tools that help you resolve customer requests automatically. Scout is our built-in AI agent. You can run Envoy with Scout, connect your own agent, or use both. What counts as a resolution? Resolutions are counted when the customer doesn't escalate, search the knowledge base, or indicate they need more help after Scout delivers an answer. What happens if Scout can't answ… [excerpt]
Read full source quote
What’s the difference between Envoy and Scout? Envoy is Help Scout’s suite of tools that help you resolve customer requests automatically. Scout is our built-in AI agent. You can run Envoy with Scout, connect your own agent, or use both. What counts as a resolution? Resolutions are counted when the customer doesn't escalate, search the knowledge base, or indicate they need more help after Scout delivers an answer. What happens if Scout can't answer a question? If Scout isn't able to answer the question, your customers can escalate to your support team directly from the conversation. They'll never hit a dead end or get stuck in a loop. Will customers know they're talking to AI? Yes, Scout is clearly labeled as AI for transparency. It is not designed to make your customers think they are talking to a human. Does Scout support multiple languages? Yes, Scout can handle conversations in over 50 languages, including Spanish, French, and many others.
[15] Envoy — AI Customer Support in Help ScoutFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/agent/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:57.438968Z
Apps Coming Soon! Scout will connect to everything from payment processors to CRMs so it can answer contact-specific questions with the full picture in view.
[16] Envoy — AI Customer Support in Help ScoutFollow us on X / TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Instagram
https://www.helpscout.com/agent/
Retrieved 2026-10-22T21:49:57.438968Z
Email Coming Soon! When emails arrive that Scout can confidently answer, it jumps in to give your team a leg up in the queue.